Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has ordered his ministers to make protecting human life the government's absolute priority as 73 active fire fronts were recorded nationwide since Thursday afternoon, according to the government.
The fires stretched from Chaidari and Boeotia to Argolida, Rethymno and Kompoti in Arta, with some assessed as extremely dangerous. Authorities warned that the risk of new fires breaking out remained extreme on Friday.
Attica and Evia were placed under the highest alert level, category 5, because of forecast winds in those areas. Many parts of the Peloponnese, Central Greece, the Aegean, Crete, Western Greece and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace were placed under category 4.
The government ordered continuous readiness, close cooperation with local authorities and immediate preventive measures, with instructions from Mitsotakis that there be no delays or coordination gaps that could endanger residents, particularly near settlements. Emergency 112 alerts were sent to mobile phones across a wide area, and authorities evacuated large zones around the fire fronts, prioritizing the prevention of casualties before protecting property and the environment.
Officials at the Maximos Mansion said the hardest period lies ahead as the country enters August, traditionally the toughest month of the fire season. Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Evangelos Tournas, after consulting regional governors, put all relevant agencies on maximum operational readiness and recalled staff leave for the coming days. The decision covers seven of the country's thirteen regions.
The mobilization followed a warning Mitsotakis gave to the Cabinet hours earlier that Greece faces difficult days ahead. He called August a demanding month and urged citizens to exercise maximum caution, noting that fires were still being started by gross negligence. He said the state would do everything within its capacity and asked for society's help in limiting the impact of fires.
No relaxation of state response, but greater responsibility for all
That message underpins the government's core political line: no relaxation of the state mechanism, but greater responsibility from everyone. Of 221 arrests made this year over fires, 195, almost 88 percent, involved fires caused by negligence.
The government said it has taken all available preventive measures. About 18,800 firefighters are planned to operate this fire season, nearly 5,000 more than in 2019. Ground and air resources, drone surveillance and early detection systems are being expanded gradually through the AIGIS program, which already includes Diamond surveillance aircraft, with new helicopters, firefighting vehicles and seven new Canadair 515 planes being acquired.
The AntiNero program has allocated 665 million euros over the past five years for interventions in forest ecosystems, while annual municipal funding for fire protection rose from 18.5 million to 50 million euros. Data presented to Parliament showed 765,000 citizen declarations submitted on the platform for clearing plots of land.
